We fortunately are just fine after all the rain. Very fortunate that we are in a valley with underground lines all the way from the substation, so we never lost power and saw very little wind. I recorded ~6″ of rain over 3 days, much less than areas south of us and thankfully not as much as they were forecasting here. Our only damage was a holly tree dinged the corner of our gutters, so I’ll have to fix that. Unfortunately, we know many that are less fortunate, praying for them and all those impacted.
Now off to the next unfortunate project…draining and closing the pool.
We had a fun weekend in Charleston before the rain started moving in. Praying for those in the area, 30″ of rain is no joke. Thanks to work we never made it to the beach this year; the fun of pharmacy…can’t request weekends so have to make it work with the timeshare and do partial weeks or off weekends. That being said…we made it work and got a beach day in on Sullivan’s Island. Apparently this was also the weekend for the Trump rally in Charleston Harbor…probably 500+ boats went out flying MAGA flags. We were eating lunch at a harbor-side restaurant when it started…most tables where pretty happy, several were not. Strangely those tables left quickly.
We’re back in public school this year after homeschooling last year. Brit had to step in to a full-time spot at the pharmacy when they had a pharmacist leave, I’m still at Walmart playing the corporate game so we’re trying to figure out how to get everybody where they need to be when they need to be there since for right now neither of us is home most days. Unless your insurance doesn’t allow it…just don’t go to a chain. Just no. Find a small pharmacy. Give ’em some love.
Aria is still in ballet and Aiden in scouts. Aria has been able to perform in the Nutcracker performance for the last 4 years, this year she is going for a bigger role when the audition comes up this month. She is in the oldest ballet company in the area, and one of the few that still focuses on traditional ballet. Aiden can still put a Lego together in 2 seconds flat. And is already halfway through the some book or another when you’ve even figured out what you’re looking at. When someone comes up with $1,000 he says he’s doing the Super Star Destroyer…the 4 foot long limited edition option.
We’ve also had a new four-legged addition; that brings us to 4 for anyone counting. Maverick is the full-size Aussie bringing us to 2 mini Aussies, a golden retriever, and Mav. He is also a small tornado that brings half the pool inside with him. Between the furry friends, the kids, and the neighbors, life is full. While not technically “legal” in VA we are blessed to have a farmer that is all for fireworks and neighbors that look forward to it…we still set off a fireworks show that is apparently better than the town on the 4th of July. I’ll blame that on the years of Schleicher shows. Personally I think last year was a better show than this year, but I found out all 80 some homes in the neighborhood plus relatives from out of state were in attendance for this year and nobody really cares as long as something goes boom. If you didn’t see the FB post of the video, catch it here: https://family.schleicher.social/photo-gallery/#july2024. We were blessed with a house full of kids from around the block wearing the pool, slip and slide, bounce house, and all the yard games out; working the day before made it a bit of a mad dash to get everything up a ready for the 4th, but it all worked out.
On a separate note the “newest” FB scam has been making the rounds here; somebody I work with and another friend that coaches the youth football team both had their accounts hacked. A “friend” that they both knew PM’d them saything that they had been hacked, and to help unlock their account FB was going to send a friend of their choice from their profile a code and they would just have to verify that code. To me its common sense…never do that…but apparently it was convincing enough and in both cases came from a close friend’s profile (or impersonated profile). Both accounts immediately had all the info changed, login info was changed, email and phone number was changed, and they got locked out completely while the hacker(s) started putting up photos of items “for sale”. One of our physicians in town apparently believed it (I almost did too) and “bought” a hot tub…he’s now out $1,000. Anyway…point is their accounts, while reported, apparently are unrecoverable. We sat through a lecture with the local state police during Aiden’s scout meeting a few months ago, topic was online safety especially for kids. They’re seeing scams getting more and more sophisticated with victims that range from the IT unaware can’t-turn-a-computer-on to people that deal with IT every day, with the point being they see it happen to anyone. Soooo…I pulled together some of the things out of that presentation as well as some generalizations from what I’ve worked with on the side: https://family.schleicher.social/internet-safety-reminders/.
Everyone have a great week, stay cool (or dry, whichever the case may be in your neck of the woods), and prayers for all of those traveling now or soon to be
We did have a memorable 4th of July complete with a full show; we were fortunate that the farmer behind us was willing and able to rotate his cattle off for the day so we could borrow the field. All told we had probably 30 or 40 people throughout the day, a ton of kids, and overall a full day with the pool, slip and slide, bounce house, and games all over. It took me 2 days to recover.
We grew from just me and the neighbor (who, incidentally, was the one that started the “do you think we could set off some fireworks?”), to probably 80-100 people total watching. Our new neighbors from PA even said they remember seeing it from 2 years ago when they were visiting family here; apparently its a highlight.
We’ve had a busy week getting ready for Thursday. Either I work one side or Brit works, so everything is packed into a few days, but we’re expecting up to 30 people Thursday to crash the pool. Supposed to be 90s today and tomorrow, so I believe I’ll be getting the slip and slide and bounce house out while its still cool this evening. Watching the cows in the field we’ll using for fireworks this morning; hoping the guy that owns them remembers he was supposed to move them today.
Looking forward to tomorrow, as always. We’ve got right at a 15 minute show planned; keeping it quiet, as much as possible, since we rely on the good graces of the neighborhood to continue to shoot these off every year. Having a lot of fun though with using mortars during the shows too now.
It’s been a hot week for us with lots of pool time. I’m gearing up for another neighborhood fireworks show, we have a few more people each year that want to pitch in so it gets a little bigger each time. The running joke is before long if we keep putting the town to shame I’ll be recruited for their show 🤣.
Brit got bumped to the full time spot at the pharmacy she works at; in a way it’s both a blessing and a problem. We’d just settled in and really enjoyed homeschooling, but now, with both of us full time and Aria really getting into ballet this year they may have to go back into Public school since we can’t find a reliable person that can help or is able to work with the long pharmacy hours. I keep praying that something will give and one of us will be able to find a more “normal” job with more reasonable hours and expectations.
Off to hang 4 ceiling fans, finally replacing our old, rusted porch fans with new ones. Staying in the shade today.
We had an eventful weekend and a full week; everything pressure washed and cleaned for the summer, deck painted and screens repaired. Saturday was our get together for Memorial Day since I worked the holiday; another full day of kids from all over our neighborhood. Brit’s parents scored a fun item in a pallet they had bought at auction; one of those mystery pallets that you buy the whole thing. Most of it ends up junk, but 3 of these water parks were in it. Needless to say, it was used extensively.
We’ve had one of those busy weeks that still has a long way to go. Started off with finishing off the garden; for once we’re actually on time with getting everything in the ground, now if we can just stay on top of it this summer.
Monday after work I rode up to Richmond with Brit (and Lucy had to come along as a sidekick) for a early Tuesday job interview for the district Board of Pharmacy inspector. Hoping to hear back this week that I’ll be out of the retail world into an enforcement and investigative role. I’ll be doing more traveling and more computer work, but I’ll be working for the state so I’ll actually be able to enjoy holidays and weekends again.
Kiddos are just about done with homeschool for this year. Pretty weather means they’re itching to get outside so convincing them to just finish the last few lessons is getting harder, especially when they see the pool open and warming up. That has been an interesting run this year, but still well worth it for the freedom and flexibility we’ve had with them with ballet, scouts, and traveling. Unfortunately they also realized that they can’t play the sick card any more…when school is at home sick days are a great opportunity to catch up.
Off to finish this week; praying that I’ll be giving my last notice today or tomorrow and will be rounding out retail for good soon.
We’ve been working on 12 yards of mulch that’s sat in the driveway for about 3 weeks now; between work, the rain, and a trip that pile hasn’t moved much until the last few days. Finally finished the fence to the garden, so naturally we needed to make it blend in with the rest of the landscaping. It’s a functional garden…assuming I didn’t kill the blueberry bush when I moved it we’ve relocated our blueberries.
Best time of the year, and so far no frost to kill the blooms. The magnolias, cherry trees, daffodils, and tulips are all showing their best while the irises and lilies are getting ready. Another couple of weeks, assuming it stays warm, and it’ll be time to open the pool and get it cleaned up and ready to roll for summer.
I was going to change out my tree in the dining room, since Christmas is long past…but I think for the sake of Easter I’ll wait to change it out until Sunday. Since without Christmas…there is no Resurrection.
We took a short mini vacation to Gordonsville last week; it’s about 30 minutes outside of Charlottesville. Definitely going to go back; some of our timeshares (like Gatlinburg…) just are not fun, but a few like our Orlando timeshares, and now this one, are well worth it. We missed out on the chance for horseback riding at this place, since it is a working equestrian center, but maybe next time…Caught up with some friends from school and had a day in DC while we were there too, all in all a needed break.
We’ve had a busy week; missed out on Ethan’s ceremony since we were actually at Aiden’s haunted campout with his scout pack. Slowly getting things put away for fall; I believe I’m going to have a run for my money with Christmas decorations this year. Our new neighbor has been slowly adding to his outside Halloween lights, enough that I’m getting suspicious I may have competition. We’ll see.
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We fortunately are just fine after all the rain. Very fortunate that we are in a valley with underground lines all the way from the substation, so we never lost power and saw very little wind. I recorded ~6″ of rain over 3 days, much less than areas south of us and thankfully not as much as they were forecasting here. Our only damage was a holly tree dinged the corner of our gutters, so I’ll have to fix that. Unfortunately, we know many that are less fortunate, praying for them and all those impacted.
Now off to the next unfortunate project…draining and closing the pool.
We had a fun weekend in Charleston before the rain started moving in. Praying for those in the area, 30″ of rain is no joke. Thanks to work we never made it to the beach this year; the fun of pharmacy…can’t request weekends so have to make it work with the timeshare and do partial weeks or off weekends. That being said…we made it work and got a beach day in on Sullivan’s Island. Apparently this was also the weekend for the Trump rally in Charleston Harbor…probably 500+ boats went out flying MAGA flags. We were eating lunch at a harbor-side restaurant when it started…most tables where pretty happy, several were not. Strangely those tables left quickly.
We’re back in public school this year after homeschooling last year. Brit had to step in to a full-time spot at the pharmacy when they had a pharmacist leave, I’m still at Walmart playing the corporate game so we’re trying to figure out how to get everybody where they need to be when they need to be there since for right now neither of us is home most days. Unless your insurance doesn’t allow it…just don’t go to a chain. Just no. Find a small pharmacy. Give ’em some love.
Aria is still in ballet and Aiden in scouts. Aria has been able to perform in the Nutcracker performance for the last 4 years, this year she is going for a bigger role when the audition comes up this month. She is in the oldest ballet company in the area, and one of the few that still focuses on traditional ballet. Aiden can still put a Lego together in 2 seconds flat. And is already halfway through the some book or another when you’ve even figured out what you’re looking at. When someone comes up with $1,000 he says he’s doing the Super Star Destroyer…the 4 foot long limited edition option.
We’ve also had a new four-legged addition; that brings us to 4 for anyone counting. Maverick is the full-size Aussie bringing us to 2 mini Aussies, a golden retriever, and Mav. He is also a small tornado that brings half the pool inside with him. Between the furry friends, the kids, and the neighbors, life is full. While not technically “legal” in VA we are blessed to have a farmer that is all for fireworks and neighbors that look forward to it…we still set off a fireworks show that is apparently better than the town on the 4th of July. I’ll blame that on the years of Schleicher shows. Personally I think last year was a better show than this year, but I found out all 80 some homes in the neighborhood plus relatives from out of state were in attendance for this year and nobody really cares as long as something goes boom. If you didn’t see the FB post of the video, catch it here: https://family.schleicher.social/photo-gallery/#july2024. We were blessed with a house full of kids from around the block wearing the pool, slip and slide, bounce house, and all the yard games out; working the day before made it a bit of a mad dash to get everything up a ready for the 4th, but it all worked out.
On a separate note the “newest” FB scam has been making the rounds here; somebody I work with and another friend that coaches the youth football team both had their accounts hacked. A “friend” that they both knew PM’d them saything that they had been hacked, and to help unlock their account FB was going to send a friend of their choice from their profile a code and they would just have to verify that code. To me its common sense…never do that…but apparently it was convincing enough and in both cases came from a close friend’s profile (or impersonated profile). Both accounts immediately had all the info changed, login info was changed, email and phone number was changed, and they got locked out completely while the hacker(s) started putting up photos of items “for sale”. One of our physicians in town apparently believed it (I almost did too) and “bought” a hot tub…he’s now out $1,000. Anyway…point is their accounts, while reported, apparently are unrecoverable. We sat through a lecture with the local state police during Aiden’s scout meeting a few months ago, topic was online safety especially for kids. They’re seeing scams getting more and more sophisticated with victims that range from the IT unaware can’t-turn-a-computer-on to people that deal with IT every day, with the point being they see it happen to anyone. Soooo…I pulled together some of the things out of that presentation as well as some generalizations from what I’ve worked with on the side: https://family.schleicher.social/internet-safety-reminders/.
Everyone have a great week, stay cool (or dry, whichever the case may be in your neck of the woods), and prayers for all of those traveling now or soon to be
We did have a memorable 4th of July complete with a full show; we were fortunate that the farmer behind us was willing and able to rotate his cattle off for the day so we could borrow the field. All told we had probably 30 or 40 people throughout the day, a ton of kids, and overall a full day with the pool, slip and slide, bounce house, and games all over. It took me 2 days to recover.
We grew from just me and the neighbor (who, incidentally, was the one that started the “do you think we could set off some fireworks?”), to probably 80-100 people total watching. Our new neighbors from PA even said they remember seeing it from 2 years ago when they were visiting family here; apparently its a highlight.
We’ve had a busy week getting ready for Thursday. Either I work one side or Brit works, so everything is packed into a few days, but we’re expecting up to 30 people Thursday to crash the pool. Supposed to be 90s today and tomorrow, so I believe I’ll be getting the slip and slide and bounce house out while its still cool this evening. Watching the cows in the field we’ll using for fireworks this morning; hoping the guy that owns them remembers he was supposed to move them today.
Looking forward to tomorrow, as always. We’ve got right at a 15 minute show planned; keeping it quiet, as much as possible, since we rely on the good graces of the neighborhood to continue to shoot these off every year. Having a lot of fun though with using mortars during the shows too now.
Everyone be safe and have a great few days.
It’s been a hot week for us with lots of pool time. I’m gearing up for another neighborhood fireworks show, we have a few more people each year that want to pitch in so it gets a little bigger each time. The running joke is before long if we keep putting the town to shame I’ll be recruited for their show 🤣.
Brit got bumped to the full time spot at the pharmacy she works at; in a way it’s both a blessing and a problem. We’d just settled in and really enjoyed homeschooling, but now, with both of us full time and Aria really getting into ballet this year they may have to go back into Public school since we can’t find a reliable person that can help or is able to work with the long pharmacy hours. I keep praying that something will give and one of us will be able to find a more “normal” job with more reasonable hours and expectations.
Off to hang 4 ceiling fans, finally replacing our old, rusted porch fans with new ones. Staying in the shade today.
We had an eventful weekend and a full week; everything pressure washed and cleaned for the summer, deck painted and screens repaired. Saturday was our get together for Memorial Day since I worked the holiday; another full day of kids from all over our neighborhood. Brit’s parents scored a fun item in a pallet they had bought at auction; one of those mystery pallets that you buy the whole thing. Most of it ends up junk, but 3 of these water parks were in it. Needless to say, it was used extensively.
We’ve had one of those busy weeks that still has a long way to go. Started off with finishing off the garden; for once we’re actually on time with getting everything in the ground, now if we can just stay on top of it this summer.
Monday after work I rode up to Richmond with Brit (and Lucy had to come along as a sidekick) for a early Tuesday job interview for the district Board of Pharmacy inspector. Hoping to hear back this week that I’ll be out of the retail world into an enforcement and investigative role. I’ll be doing more traveling and more computer work, but I’ll be working for the state so I’ll actually be able to enjoy holidays and weekends again.
Kiddos are just about done with homeschool for this year. Pretty weather means they’re itching to get outside so convincing them to just finish the last few lessons is getting harder, especially when they see the pool open and warming up. That has been an interesting run this year, but still well worth it for the freedom and flexibility we’ve had with them with ballet, scouts, and traveling. Unfortunately they also realized that they can’t play the sick card any more…when school is at home sick days are a great opportunity to catch up.
Off to finish this week; praying that I’ll be giving my last notice today or tomorrow and will be rounding out retail for good soon.
We’ve been working on 12 yards of mulch that’s sat in the driveway for about 3 weeks now; between work, the rain, and a trip that pile hasn’t moved much until the last few days. Finally finished the fence to the garden, so naturally we needed to make it blend in with the rest of the landscaping. It’s a functional garden…assuming I didn’t kill the blueberry bush when I moved it we’ve relocated our blueberries.
Best time of the year, and so far no frost to kill the blooms. The magnolias, cherry trees, daffodils, and tulips are all showing their best while the irises and lilies are getting ready. Another couple of weeks, assuming it stays warm, and it’ll be time to open the pool and get it cleaned up and ready to roll for summer.
I was going to change out my tree in the dining room, since Christmas is long past…but I think for the sake of Easter I’ll wait to change it out until Sunday. Since without Christmas…there is no Resurrection.
We took a short mini vacation to Gordonsville last week; it’s about 30 minutes outside of Charlottesville. Definitely going to go back; some of our timeshares (like Gatlinburg…) just are not fun, but a few like our Orlando timeshares, and now this one, are well worth it. We missed out on the chance for horseback riding at this place, since it is a working equestrian center, but maybe next time…Caught up with some friends from school and had a day in DC while we were there too, all in all a needed break.